What Challenges Exist with Launching a Specialty Drug?
Joy Gilbert, Vice President, Operations, US Bioservices, a part of AmerisourceBergen, speaks to the difficulties that face manufacturers who are launching a novel specialty product.
Gilbert: There are many challenges associated with orphan drugs, primarily because the patients and prescribers in these rare disease categories have not had treatment options before, as well as they are not familiar with working with a specialty pharmacy or manufacturer support programs that might be in place to help them with that process.
So, there’s a whole litany of new players involved, new processes, new programs they really know nothing about. It’s incumbent upon us, as specialty pharmacy partners, to educate not only the patient, their family, and caregivers, but the physicians as well as how to best gain access to the treatments for these patients.
